Life After 18 Seconds

Sunday, July 5, 2009

It's so sad that the weekend is over but all good things must come to an end. Blah! I hated when my mother would say that to me as a child. Ahhh but you live and you learn. The things we tell our parents that we absolutely won't do when we are parents...we will. I promised my mom that I would never do the dreaded spit shine on my child. Poor Halainah has been subjected to it a dozen times at least.

Anywho, back to the weekend. We had a blast. A weekend full of family and friends, a birthday party for my best friend's daughter, great BBQ's, fun stories, enjoying our children and fireworks to end it all. I am expecting Halainah to need some quiet time this week so she can recover. Every holiday that we have experienced since returning from China has been so heart warming. When I see my daughter full of excitement because she is experiencing something new...well there are no words to fully capture the joy in my heart. Our daughter was carefully chosen for us by our miraculous creator. It truly is a miracle. And I believe my mother had a hand in it as well. I miss my mom every day but this weekend she was on my mind morning, noon and night. The hardest thing for me is looking in my daughters eyes, knowing that she will never know the love of her Oma here on earth, well it just breaks my heart.

I read the story of Kate McRae this weekend, a beautiful little 5 year old girl who has to walk a road that no child should ever have to travel. She was diagnosed with a very aggressive brain tumor and her life has changed in a blink of an eye. Kate needs our prayers. Her family needs our prayers. I lost my mom to this evil disease and to see an innocent child being faced with the same horror makes me want to scream. I believe in miracles. And I am praying for a miracle for little Kate. My thoughts and prayers were constantly with her and her family all weekend long. You can follow Kate and her family here:http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/mcraekate/mystory.

So I end my post this evening with fond memories of Halainah's first 4th of July. But also with thoughts of Kate and her family who are so full of fear of the unknown right now. All we can do is pray!

Halainah still loves the trampoline. She has come a long way...she can almost jump!

Typical Halainah...always smiling!

Floating in the pool on a hot day!

She's getting brave in the pool!

Flopping on her belly like a seal!

Walking in the grass! It took at least an entire month to get her used to the grass with Uncle Mario's help! She hated the way it felt on her feet!

Sharing her fresh peas straight from Uncle Mario's garden.

WOW...as said by Halainah. Uncle Mario taught Halainah how to say wow this weekend. So every time she saw a firecracker in the sky she said WOW...very cute. I posted this photo because I noticed that there was a small red heart towards the bottom. It wasn't there that evening. Hmmm...wonder what it means!

SHJIHM

About Me

We have been married for 13 years and dreamed of having children since we said "I do". We have followed God's miraculous plan to adopt our daughter, Halainah Grace. She has filled our hearts with an enormous amount of love and laughter. Our family is on a new journey to find Halainah's mei mei in China. We devote our Sundays to God and are confident by God's grace that he will complete our family someday.